HTC: $8 per phone for Apple patents? We're not CRAZY!

HTC has rubbished claims that it's paying $6 to $8 per Android phone to keep Apple off its back.

The Taiwanese firm reached a settlement for its patent spats with the fruity firm earlier this month, signing a 10-year cross-licensing deal with its one-time enemy.

Naturally, neither firm would say what exactly was being paid to end the legal manoeuvring, leaving the media to speculate. Some reports suggested that HTC could be paying as much as $8 per Android mobile, but chief exec Peter Chou said that was ridiculous.

"I think that these estimates are baseless and very, very wrong. It is a outrageous number, but I'm not going to comment anything on a specific number. I believe we have a very, very happy settlement and a good ending," he said at a product launch with Japanaese telco KDDI Corp in Tokyo, Reuters reports.

The media aren't the only ones who want to know what HTC coughed to get Apple out of the courtrooms; Samsung is also trying to get its hands on the agreement.

Samsung is asking the US court to force Apple to hand over the agreement, so it can offer a similar deal instead of having its products banned in the United States.

The US court already handed Apple a $1bn win and the fruity firm immediately pursued injunctions on the products in the case. But if Samsung can prove that Apple has a licence deal with HTC on the patents it is suing over in its case with Samsung, then Sammy will argue that monetary compensation is enough and it shouldn't have its products banned.

"Evidence of Apple’s licensing of patents-in-suit weighs against any finding that monetary relief is inadequate by demonstrating Apple’s willingness to forego exclusivity in exchange for money," Samsung said in its court filing.

"Evidence of Apple’s licensing of these patents would also undermine Apple’s assertion in its reply — made only a day before announcement of the HTC license — that its patents are unavailable for licensing to competitors." ®